Cape Cod is a hook-shaped peninsula on the coast of Massachusetts. It received its name because of the codfish caught off its shores. Cape Cod Bay lies in the hooked arm of Cape Cod. The islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket are just south of the cape, which is about 65 miles (105 kilometers) long and from 1 to 20 miles (1.6 to 32 kilometers) wide. The cape covers Barnstable County, which has a population of about 229,000. Barnstable is the county seat. Sandy beaches, sailing opportunities, and the beautiful shoreline and upland landscape features of Cape Cod National Seashore help make the cape a popular tourist area. Popular destinations on the cape include Hyannis and Provincetown.
Bartholomew Gosnold, an Englishman who sailed around Cape Cod in 1602, is usually credited as the first European to sight it. However, some historians believe that Basque and Norse fishing crews visited the cape long before Gosnold’s voyage. Cape Cod was a center of the whaling industry in the 1800’s.
